Figures the first question answered has to do with Selling discs....
Anyway, I love Wizards, I carry 3 in my bag at all times.
My Question is why is there such an inconsistancy in the softness of your putters? I have two SS that are completely different, a SSS that feels like one of my Supersofts, and a Soft Wizard that is stiffer than other's I have thrown? Why can't I trust the stamp? There is one store around me that just started carrying a small number of gateway putters so its been difficult to buy online and know and trust what i'm getting.
We've made hundreds of runs of each discs and there sure to be some variations between runs. While we try to match the flexibility with the surface firmness (the actual measurement for our discs) some SS or less or more flexible then other but all would be in between 85-90 A shore if you check.
anything below would be a SSS which could be all the way down to 75 and what players would call a 1 or 4 S. current runs on the shelf of SSS are really flexible.
I'll give you a few scenarios that could effect flexibility.
One is color, some of our colors are PP based some our LDPE and some are EVA. this can cause variations. I bought a 1/2 truckload of color ( about 22,000 lbs) enough to last a few years as you only use a few lbs per batch,,, some really sweet colors just different carriers and dispersion rates which also effect flow rates.
We also bland each batch and tumble in in a barrel (Typically about 50 KG) often using 3 ,4 or even 5 different polymers ,,,,lets say we are shooting for a SS 175 and it winds up weighing 170,, we could adjust injection speed, injection pressure, back pressure, return screw speed, hold time, hot tip temperature or shot size to increase the weight to 175g, there may be any number of reasons you may use one or another, but by doing so you could get a disc that is more flexible because it is packed out a bit more than say,,, you mixed a batch and it weighed closer to 180g and you needed to reduce the weight,, which would produce discs that are less packed out and there for more flexible.
In either case the hardness of the actual polymer would be the really close to the same on the surface.
If the batch mixed is off by more than 6 or 7 grams we would typically reformulate the entire batch as opposed to trying to adjust it mechanically.
so in a nut shell,,, human error.
its also true that at time the polymers we get from our suppliers can change,, especially when you are compounding high loads of mineral,,, our polymer density in a disc like the Wizard is 1.4 specific gravity,,, not something on a shelf or \ a million LBS of sitting in a ware house that is ALL the SAME!
We dont make the polymers just try and use them to our best abilities.
I'm sure most of you know by now that every company ,,,and I mean EVERY company,,,, has a hard time repeating runs,,,I think we are the only company that offers 4 different hardness of High end Rubber in each putter mold.
we could probably be more consistent if we only had 2 of each but I don't think anyone wants us reducing our flex/hardness to just 2.
I'd say our runs over the last year and 1/2 have been a lot more consistent as the run sizes have been increased.
I hope this helps,,,,David Mac